The internet of things and smart cities: Will an IBM computer be your next mayor?

When we think of computer networks, we think of routers and servers and fiber optic cables and laptops and smartphones — we think of the internet. In actuality, though, the visible

internet is just the tip of the iceberg. There are secret military networks, and ad hoc wireless networks, and utility companies have sprawling, cellular networks the track everything from the health of oil pipelines and uranium enrichment machines through to the remaining capacity of septic tanks.

Emergency services have their own closed networks, public transport ticketing machines are all networked together, and of course traffic signals and cameras are all networked up. Meteorological agencies have huge networks of weather beacons. Most large buildings (and

cities) have sprawling networks of CCTV cameras. And, in the case of large retailers, even individual stock items are networked using NFC (RFID).

At the moment, almost all of these networks are completely disconnected — but what if we

connected them all to the internet? What if we extended the internet so that it wasn‟t only

populated by humans? What if we made an internet of things?

Imagine if everything in the world was connected up to the same network? Every computer,

every loaf of bread, every car, every traffic signal, every human. Imagine the possibilities of

combining and correlating that data. Before you set off in the morning, you could see the exact, real-time traffic on your smartphone — and you would know what the weather (and air

quality) is like at your office/campus. From home, you would know the exact stock levels of your nearest supermarket and the price of gas.

In short, our efficiency would improve dramatically. Instead of having to drive somewhere or phone someone up, every piece of data has already been collected, transmitted at the speed of light, and stored in a massive database that can be accessed from anywhere.

things could communicate The internet of things wouldn‟t only be used by humans, either —

with each other. For example, your car could communicate with other cars and traffic signals, so that the light always turns green just as you arrive — or, really, with fully autonomous and

networked cars, you wouldn‟t need signals at all; cars would just automagically avoid each other by braking and accelerating at the right time. Fridges could communicate with supermarkets and arrange food deliveries; ditto natural gas and oil and septic tanks. With an internet of things, we could tack the word “smart” onto almost everything; smart cars, smart

homes, smart supermarkets, and even smart cities.

Of course, creating the network that would underpin these smart devices and cities would be a monumental undertaking, but — perhaps unsurprisingly — companies like IBM and Cisco

are already working on such systems.

How the iPad Will Fit Into Your Future Smart HomeSince

jumpstarting the tablet market two years ago, the iPad has found its way into a few distinct niches in our lives. Since its first generation, the device (and those like it) have been used heavily for content consumption: reading, watching video and, to a lesser extent, streaming music.

Tablets have since begun maturing into tools for content creation, including video editing

and multitrack music recording. Despite early criticism of their limitations, tablets even help people stay productive at work.

There's little doubt that, in the future, these devices will be even more thoroughly integrated into our lives. For clues about how thoroughly, look no further than the

emerging smart home market and the products that are already finding their ways into people's homes.

We're already seeing the tablet take center stage in "smart" household technology usage in the living room, for example. Your iPad can be used to control an Apple TV, effectively

bringing iOS to the big screen. More commonly, tablets are used as second screen

devices, on which users not only control the content they're watching, but seek out supplementary content and interact with others on the social Web. With credible rumors of an Apple HDTV still making the rounds, it's reasonable to expect the integration between television and tablets to grow even tighter.

Tablet-enhanced home entertainment is only the beginning.

Beyond the "Second Screen:" A Remote Control for the Whole

House

As households are increasingly equipped with automation, smart TVs, energy

management features and cloud-based security systems, tablets are becoming a sort of command-and-control hub, allowing us to dim the lights, open the curtains, engage the alarm or check in on our kids via video feed. All of this - and considerably more - can be done from inside the home or from halfway across the planet.

Control4 is a Utah-based company that builds the software upon which many home

automation systems run. The company also operates a platform by the same name, for which developers can build apps that perform various tasks within smart homes. In addition to licensing its software to thousands of electronics manufacturers, Control4 makes its own hardware and has an iPad app, which can be used to control security features, lighting, temperature and entertainment media. Want to turn on the dining room lights while you're out of town to make it look like the house is still occupied? Turn the heat on a few minutes before you get home? That's precisely the sort of thing that systems such as this enable.

As is often the case, when we say "iPad," we really mean "tablet," the market that will likely be dominated by Apple's beloved device for the foreseeable future. Along with smartphones, they will become the hub of any connected, automated household in the future.

Control4 offers its own tablet-like hardware, in addition to its iPad app. Comcast's Xfinity Home Security product, which is similar to what Control4 offers, can be controlled from an iOS app or from Comcast's own custom hardware. That device comes equipped with a cellular data backup connection in case weather or an intruder knocks one's broadband connection offline. Similarly, 3G and 4G iPads and Android tablets can be used to ensure that connectivity isn't an issue in an emergency situation.

Another central component to systems like this is their use of Web-connected video cameras for security. Home surveillance systems used to be prohibitively expensive, but advances (and price drops) in Web cam technology, coupled with the reliance on cloud storage for footage, have helped drive those costs down considerably.

Live feeds from cameras installed in and around the home can be viewed from proprietary

touchscreen tablets such as those sold by vendors including Control4 and Comcast, or they can be watched remotely via apps for iOS and, in some cases, Android. This offers a sense of security to homeowners, and for teenagers, probably something more like terror.

Regardless of how you feel about it, the homes of the future will be more connected and automated. If you think your tablet or other mobile device feels like the center of your universe now, just wait until it can dim the lights, queue up the DVR and communicate with the WiFi-enabled refrigerator.

The Internet Of Things: 5 Impressive Campaigns

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The internet of things is probably the most exciting „thing‟ that‟s ever happened to the internet. It‟s been a concept for a long time now, but now the technology is beginning to cross over into the mainstream and become more accessible. Essentially, this is where physical objects (things) are controlled virtually through cloud computing and networked devices. It means that objects can talk to each other and some pretty amazing applications come from that. It typically runs through Aruduino which is open sourced hardware. To understand the internet of things properly, check out these impressive projects:

Ninjablocks

One of my favourite applications of Arduino is Ninja Blocks, as it opens up the concept to make it more accessible. Ninja Blocks are pieces of hardware that run through Ninja Cloud, enabling pretty much anyone to set them up and run a number of tasks. They operate along the „if this then that‟ rule, with the blocks also incorporating sensores. So for example, you can set up a task with the Ninja block placed by your door with the tast „if someone opens my door, take a picture &

send to Twitter‟. Through Ninja Blocks you can create any number of tasks, as far as your imagination will take you. They‟re also available to pre-order now.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

CONFERENCE 2012 : Evolution in Technology and Data,

Connectivity and Communication.

Welcome to GovNet's inaugural "Internet of Things" Conference.

With the number of connected devices set to increase worldwide from the current level of 4.5 billion to 50 billion by 2050, making machine to machine technologies a key focus across sectors, this event comes at a time the internet of things has reached a critical juncture. The UK possesses a strong foundation in technology and innovation to take a leadership position, given the correct level of investment and policies at a national and local level.

But to achieve this, areas of technology, business models, security, consumer psychology, leadership and regulation will all have to be addressed and will require the involvement of government, industry and academia working together to devise scalable solutions and to establish a market in this new sector.

Bringing together over 350 key decision makers from across industry, academia and government, this conference is a must attend for those involved in accelerating the evolution of the Future Internet in the UK. You will have the chance to hear from 20 speakers who are experts in the field, alongside 25 service providers with solutions to the challenges you face.

The Internet of Things Conference will centre on how opportunities are going to arise when we harness innovation, shared R&D/ economies of scale, systems transformation and relevant regulations such as the EU ITS Directive, as the UK seeks to obtain a foothold in a market that has an estimated future worth of ?200billion.

We look forward to welcoming you.

5 ways to power the Internet of things

By Katie FehrenbacherApr. 8, 2012, 10:18pm PT5 Comments

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The Internet of Things could have a mind-boggling 24 billion devices connected

by 2020 and that means there will be more than three times the amount of connected devices as people on the planet by that time. So, how will the world power all of these gadgets and machine-driven devices? The answer, beyond plugging all of those devices into the grid, will include farming tiny slices of power when available, from sources like the sun, vibrations, mechanical energy, heat and more. Here‟s five ways the Internet of things will be powered:

The sun: During the day, when the sun shines down, it‟s a relatively passive energy

started working with Kansas State University researchers on an energy-harvesting radio that gains power from a board made of solar cells taken from low-end calculators. The rest of the setup (see photo) includes a low-power integrated chip —

originally developed for a NASA Mars project — to store the data, and a radio to

transmit the data every five seconds. Another more recent innovation is researchers developing organic and polymer-based solar cells that are thinner than spider silk that MIT Tech Review says“can be bent and crumpled and still produce power.”

Flipping a light switch: GreenPeak is a company that sells battery-free wireless chips and network hardware that can create wireless sensor networks for industrial and commercial buildings that don‟t use batteries, but harvest energy when it‟s

available. GreenPeak has been developing tech for “Self Powered Switches,” which

are essentially a light that can run off of the power generated by switching a light switch on and off. A company calledEnOcean is developing this sensor tech, too.

Vibration: UK firm Perpetuum makes a device that capture vibrations and converts them into energy. The last time I had talked to the company it was selling its products to industrial companies for between $750 and $1,000 for various volumes of 500 to 1000 nodes. Widely accepted standards could bring that cost down, and developers could incorporate the technology more into the residential environment. Changes in temperature: As MIT Tech Review writes:“devices could be powered

just bydifferences in temperature between the body (or another warm object) and the

surrounding air, eliminating or reducing the need for a battery.”

Viewpoint: The internet of things and yet another revolution

I always think of blogging as like networking for shy people.

I am very shy, I hate meeting new people, I am very bad at small talk. I entered my thirties assuming I would have a small circle of friends that would slowly diminish until I died.

But then I discovered the power of blogging. I got my own blog, and I started making friends with people. I started finding new networks of people, I started exploring new worlds and I found my own voice. I did it all without having to learn any programming, or learn any code or learn how to be a developer.

Suddenly I could just publish to the internet, publish to the whole world. It did not mean the whole world was reading but it meant I could publish out there, and it was enormously liberating, really exciting.

Blogging, we now know, is an aspect of what we call social media, which has transformed all kinds of industries and professions and is much discussed in the media.

Not much discussed is a website called Geocities. It is now defunct, but for many people it was the place they lived online for the very first time. It was a site where you could create your own pages without having to know how to do anything too technical. Some pointing and some clicking and some typing and you could make a website of your own.

It was not very attractive, there tended to be more flashing than you might want, lots of under construction signs and things like that. It was relentlessly silly and trivial but also deeply wonderful because it was the voices of millions of people finally being heard.

At the time, a media thinker, Clay Shirky, was just starting work as a web developer. He remembers thinking that no-one would ever use Geocities.

Why would you use something clunky and ugly like that? But when Geocities succeeded, and subsequent places like MySpace and Facebook succeeded, he realised that there was something going on there that all the professionals had

missed.

As he says, "creating something personal, even of moderate quality, has a different kind of appeal to consuming something made by others, even of high quality". Although slightly dull, I think that is really profound, and people missed that about social media. It is not about the readers, it is not about the quality of the stuff, it is about the writers and the act of writing. That is what made all this stuff work and made it all so powerful.

But now the innovation in that arena is drying up. We do not need new ways to put our voices online, to put our pictures or our videos or our words online. It is about as easy now as it will ever be. And so the world is moving on, and the interesting technological and technical people are starting to think of other things.

So what will the next revolution in technology be? If you talk to big companies and large institutions about it, they will tell you about the internet of things. The internet of things is a phrase you are going to hear a lot over the next few years, and the clue is in the name as to what it is. It is about connecting objects rather than people.

According to one estimate, there will be 50 billion things online by 2020; another estimate suggests it will be a trillion - nobody really knows. But lots of people have vested interests in wiring all these things up and charging for the bandwidth to do it. It's a world where everything is smart - smart cities, smart grids, everything prefaced by smart. It's a world of sensors in bridges so the bridge can report when it needs maintenance. This world where everything reports on its status to some kind of mothership is close to coming upon us.

It falls down, though, when it starts to think about people, and when it starts to design for how people will get involved in this infrastructure. It is not a bad or stupid world, it is just slightly boring. There is none of the texture or magic or specialness of life in it.

But in the undergrowth of the internet of things, behind the scenes, being subversive and bubbling away, there is a little culture of enthusiasts - called hackers or hardware hackers or makers - doing interesting things at the edges.

These are people who like to take stuff apart, to deconstruct it, dismantle it, rebuild it, repair it, make something new and better, make their own things. This obviously has been going on for years and years and years but now it has been brought back to life by a little device called the Arduino, a little gadget which you can use to connect your computer to electronic projects.

Simple devices that you might have made at home can connect to the Arduino, and

then connect to the power of computing and the web, and that has unleashed all sorts of interesting gadgety things that people have invented for themselves. This is a world where people make the things you would make if you were left to invent stuff on your own. It is a world where people strap domestic digital cameras to weather balloons in order to photograph space, a world where people attach bubble machines to Arduinos and connect them to the web so that when it sees a keyword on Twitter, it blows bubbles.

This stuff only gets thought about and only gets made by people who are tinkering, imagining and playing around the edges.

I always think the people behind the internet of things have a goal of making the world more efficient and controlled, whereas the hardware people, the hacking people, their goal is to make the world a bit more magic.

A friend of mine, Andy Huntingdon, calls this stage the Geocities of things. It is about making stuff that might be a bit trivial and a bit silly and a bit pointless, but you get the satisfaction of making it yourself.

I do not think we are quite at the Geocities of things yet. It is not as easy to make a thing as to make a web page. But we are not far off, and we are heading in that direction.

But I actually think what we most want is not a Geocities of things or an internet of things, but an internet with things, a world where we share our networks with things. The designer Matt Jones said the network is as important to think about as the things, and I think that is the next phase. Designing our relationships to the objects will be the really interesting part.

It will be where the exciting, radical, life-affirming stuff will bubble up, especially when you add things like 3D printing and personal robotics to the mix.

We are going to be designing all this brilliant stuff for ourselves. And it will be dismissed as stupid, trivial and pointless by proper designers and people in the media.

"Why would they want to do that," they will say, as they said about Geocities and blogging and Facebook. And I would remind them again of Shirky's thought: "Creating something personal, even of moderate quality, has a different kind of appeal to consuming something made by others, even of a high quality."

It is not about the thing, it is about the satisfaction of making it and the relationships which surround it. That is what will be so transformative and bewitching about the next technological revolution.

It will not be about media and screens, it will be about our lives and the objects we surround our lives with.

My network of friends brought me, via blogging, to thinking about this stuff, and it will be a network of enthusiasts that will make this stuff happen, which is why they will win. This is an edited version of Russell M Davies's Four Thought broadcast.